Tag Archives: box office

Temp Job Time (or Feeling Like It’s An Old Job Again)

Posted on March 3, 2015 | 4 comments

I finally started my new temp job last week. And it’s definitely a temp job. I’ll probably will only work 4 shifts for the job, but anything is better than nothing.

I like working for my old boss. We had a good working relationship at my old job and he gets how I need to have my things organized. And I’m the only person working on this particular job, so it’s nice that I don’t have to worry about who is dealing with which customer.

The job itself is pretty basic. It’s much simpler than my old telesales job and even simpler than my current box office job. I’m just following up on invitations for a gala event that is happening in a few weeks.

I’m actually very grateful that the job is basic. There isn’t much time for me to learn or get used to things, so I had to jump in right away. And I only need to know a few points of information to make my job successful, so I worked on those for the beginning of the first shift.

It’s a little nerve-racking starting to make calls again. But after the first few, I got right back into the swing of things. It was such an old habit that I started to do things that I had to do at my old job. I was dialing 7 to dial out (but at this new job I have to dial 9 so there were a couple of unsuccessful calls). And I was taking notes the way I had to before with tracking my name on the callers (but since I’m the only caller, that doesn’t matter anymore).

I’m working in 4.5 hour shifts, which is a nice amount of time. I don’t really have to take too significant of a break. Which is a little downside because I’ve gotten in such a routine with my eating. My shifts at this job are from 4-8:30pm. I ate a snack before work and was hoping that I could make it until 8:30/9pm before eating dinner.

It’s wasn’t too horrible, but I was starving by the time I got home. And I don’t like feeling that hungry. But since I only have 3 more shifts I might just have to deal with that. Or maybe bring a snack that is easy enough to eat between calls. But again, since it’s such a temporary thing I don’t know if it’s worth worrying about.

But honestly, right now I’m just super happy to have another job even if it is only for a little bit. Extra money is good, and because there are commissions at this temp job, there is potential to make some nice money. I didn’t make a ton of sales on my first shift, but I think that that is to be expected.

But at least for now, I’m making more than I was last week.

You Might Also Like

Default Thumbnail2 Jobs 1 Day (or What My New Normal Might Look Like) Default ThumbnailWork Work Work (or Another Very Part Time Job) Default ThumbnailDay Job News (or Things Are Getting Better) Default ThumbnailGearing Up For Another Temp Job (or At Least It’s More Work) Default ThumbnailAnother Almost Job (or It’s Feeling Like Groundhog Day) Default ThumbnailFull Day At The New Job (or Seeing My Old Workplace Abandoned)

4 Comments

Posted in Work

Tagged , , ,

Adventures In Customer Service (or Trying Not To Be The Bad Call)

Posted on November 7, 2014 | 1 comment

I’ve worked in customer service for many of my day jobs. Most of the time, I’ve been interacting with customers in person. But with my telesales job and my current box office job, I’m just doing customer service work on the phone (or in a chat feature like at my current job).

When I worked in telesales, I did discover that I was being much nicer to telemarketers on the phone. I didn’t hang up on them (unless they were robo calls) and if it was something that I know I wouldn’t be interested in, I would politely ask to be put on the do not call list.

But things have changed since I started my current box office job. I’ve had some really crazy customers since day one. I’ve never been threatened more at a job than with this one. Customers tell me that they are going to have me arrested to show up at a show and demand to see me so I can apologize for doing whatever they believed is wrong.

First of all, what saves me every day are my co-workers. While none of us work in the same city (I think only 1 other employee works in California), we are able to chat with each other through the chat feature while we work. We can ask if someone had previously spoke with a customer. Many times, customers will say that someone else told them that they could do something that is against the rules. I check with my co-workers to see who spoke to them and exactly what was said. That way, I can let the customer know that the information that they got from one of my co-workers is correct and I’m not able to bend the rules for them.

For some of the more detailed issues, we just direct them back to the location that they are attending. This is all done by email, so we have records of when we passed on a customer. Since a lot of the tough issues are not dealt with the box office, I’m grateful for that.

But ever since starting this job, I’ve noticed a change in how I deal with customer service people on the phone. I don’t believe that I have ever been mean to anyone, but I’m learning what preparation goes into making sure everything is done correctly.

For example, I ordered a DVD box set for my brother for his birthday. It was a pre-order so I knew it would take a bit of time to be shipped. I got an email 2 weeks ago saying that it would be shipped then, but there was no tracking number. I also had a charge and a refund on my credit card.

Before contacting customer service, I gathered all the information that I had gotten from the company. I knew when emails were sent to me, when the charge and refund was on my card, and when they claimed they would be shipping the DVDs. When I got a hold of customer service, I presented all my information and she was easily able to find out what happened and what went wrong (they are finally shipping the DVDs this month now).

I also recently called an Orangetheory location down in San Diego. I will be there for Thanksgiving and my dad, my brother, and my aunt all want to take a class with me on Thanksgiving. When I called the first time, the guy I spoke to seemed very confused by my request to schedule a class. He took down my information, but nothing seemed right.

After going to my Orangetheory and getting some more information about my membership from them, I called the San Diego location again to get everything straightened out.

The woman who I spoke to on the phone the second time kept saying how great it was that I was prepared to schedule everything and that I had all the information in front of me. It made her job simpler and allowed the problems to be corrected (it was mainly some typos and the previous employee using a different account to schedule my class).

Basically, from being yelled at on the phone every workday at least once, I’ve really learned that there is no reason to not do everything that I can do to make a customer service call as easy as possible. It’s not just about being nice (although that helps and I wish more customers were nice to me), it’s about knowing what had happened with your interactions with the company in the past and knowing what you need to have accomplished (as long as it is possible and not breaking any rules).

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailBeing The New Employee (or Starting Yet Another Day Job) Default ThumbnailAdventures In Banking (or More Customer Service Stories) Default ThumbnailHaving My Patience Tested (or Taking Deep Breaths) Default ThumbnailBeing Upset With Customer Service (or Trying Not To Be The Type Of Customer I Hate) Default ThumbnailExcellent Customer Service (or A New Fitbit) Default ThumbnailA+ Customer Service (or Loving Benefit)

1 Comment

Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff, Work

Tagged , , , ,

Having My Patience Tested (or Taking Deep Breaths)

Posted on October 17, 2014 | Comments Off on Having My Patience Tested (or Taking Deep Breaths)

Lately, it’s felt like my patience has been tested all the time.

This mainly is work related, but my personal life has had its moments too.

At work, my main day job is working for the box office job I have. Even at my old box office job I dealt with a lot of angry people who wanted certain seats that aren’t available or want to attend a show on a date that isn’t happening. But since they knew that we wired at the theater, I think people were a bit nicer because they knew that we might eventually meet them.

At the new box office job, people pretty much know that they will not see us. There are always a couple of customers each week who are threatening me on the phone about suing me or having me arrested. What prompts this is usually either unavailable tickets or not having all the answers and having to pass on a message to the particular location that they are going to attend. Most of the customers are nice, but when you get a really angry one, it sticks out in your head.

Thankfully, I can use the chat feature to chat with my co-workers in other locations. We help each other out when we can and if we need a moment to vent, we are there for each other as well. This also has been extremely helpful when a customer contacts us multiple times hoping to get a different answer from a different person.

I’ve also noticed my patience being tested regarding babysitting jobs. First of all, many parents put out a job request to a dozen or so sitters. And whoever responds back first gets the job. So I keep seeing jobs getting cancelled on me because I’m not fast enough to respond (usually I respond within 10 minutes but there are some people who are very fast).

I’m also hearing from multiple parents that they need to see my background check before they can hire me. I’ve passed the background check that the service I use has and it says so on my online profile. But parents want to read it all before they consider me. So I contacted the background check company and they are mailing me a hard copy of the background check. My plan is to scan it in to my computer so I can email it out if necessary (after blacking out my address and social security number).

And in my personal life, it’s not too bad, but all of it adding up has gotten to me a bit. When I moved into my house 4.5 years ago, my landlord promised to re-do my kitchen. He would have done it before I moved in, but I didn’t want to have to wait an extra month. I never really heard back from my landlord on when he would fix my kitchen, but since he wasn’t raising my rent, I stayed quiet.

Now that my rent is raised every year, I want things that were promised to me to be done. Finally last week, the handyman came to my house and took all the measurements for my new kitchen counter. It was supposed to be done by Wednesday of this week.

On Tuesday, the handyman told me that the shop screwed up cutting the counter and that the new one won’t be ready for another week or so.

I shouldn’t let this bother me, but it did. I’m still getting my new kitchen counters (and refusing the clean my old ones since they are about to be trashed). I just need to be ok with things not being done when promised.

All of this has been a big lesson in patience. I’ve always considered myself a patient person, but realizing how this has all tested me has proved that there is room for improvement for me.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailA Challenge For A Weird Month (or French And Deep Breaths) Default ThumbnailSometimes It’s Not About Me (or Not Freaking Out) Default ThumbnailHappy Birthday To FMIB! (or 2 Years And Finally Taking Myself Seriously As A Writer) Default ThumbnailNo More Playing Victim (or Taking Control) Default ThumbnailAnother Leak In My House (or Testing My Patience) Default ThumbnailLearning More Patience (or Figuring Out Where I Can Succeed)

Comments Off on Having My Patience Tested (or Taking Deep Breaths)

Posted in Tough Stuff, Work

Tagged , , ,

Early Days (or 2 Weeks Of Long Shifts)

Posted on October 10, 2014 | 1 comment

For the past 2 weeks, I’ve been working 2 hours earlier than usual at my new box office job. And I’m still finishing at my usual time so I’m working 8 extra hours a week.

I agreed to this because one of my co-workers has been shooting a movie and he wasn’t able to work. So I agree to help cover his shifts.

Having this happen so early in my time with this new job really has been good. It reassured me that if/when I need to take some time off for booked work it can be done without having to be laid off. And I’ve proven myself to be a reliable employee by agreeing to start early.

It hasn’t been easy working longer hours sitting at my computer. I’m trying to get up every so often and just walk around my living room. I can’t go too far in case the phone rings or a chat comes up, but I need the time to stretch.

It also was tough making sure that I could get all my morning stuff done before I started working. Even when I was working as a recruiting assistant from home, I always was dressed and out of my pjs when I worked. I’m doing the same thing now. Every morning, instead of waking up and making breakfast in my pjs before getting ready to start working, I’m now not leaving my room until I’m ready to work. I make my bed and get dressed (even though it’s usually just yoga pants and a tank top) before walking into the rest of my house and starting my morning.

I’ve never really done that before and it does seem to make a difference in my day. Instead of easing into my day, I feel more urgency to get work done in the morning. I’m supposed to go back to my usual start time next week, but I think I am going to continue this new routine of not leaving my room until I’m fully ready for my day.

While the extra money has been really nice, I am looking forward to getting back to my normal schedule. There are some things in the morning that I like to get done before work (like checking email and catching up on the news) that lately I’ve had to do either between calls (there is a decent amount of downtime) or at 3pm when I’m done working.

And while the search for another day job continues, I’m starting to get more referrals to jobs, which makes me happy. I got this box office job off of a referral and I always feel more confident getting work that way. I’ve got 2 referrals for jobs right now (one as a virtual assistant and one as a personal organizer) and I’m just waiting to see if anything comes of either (or both!) of those.

I know that I’ve gone through the adjustment phase of a new job several times by now, but I really do like once I’m settled into a routine and I can pretty much schedule out how everything in my day will go. It’s nice that I’ve gotten to that place again.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailDouble Time (or 2 Days Of Split Shifts) Default ThumbnailMissing Out To Make Money (or Realizing When I’m Over-scheduled) Default ThumbnailGetting Too Comfortable (or Getting Ready To Quit) Default ThumbnailNew Routine Time (or Time Management At Home) Default ThumbnailProductive One Way And Slacking In Another (or Working On Finding Time) Default ThumbnailMaking Busy Days Busier (or I Guess I Like To Maximize Only Certain Days)

1 Comment

Posted in Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff, Work

Tagged , , , ,

Feeling Like Normal In More Ways Than One (or Getting Better)

Posted on September 11, 2014 | Comments Off on Feeling Like Normal In More Ways Than One (or Getting Better)

I’m finally starting to feel better after my throat ulcer issue. I’m still having pain while drinking water and breathing heavily while working out, but the pain is not nearly as severe as it was when I went to urgent care. The doctor there told me to give it 2 weeks to get better and I’m just past the 1 week mark. Hopefully by the end of the weekend the pain won’t be noticeable anymore.

I’m still trying to take it easy while working out. My ear issues have not gone away as quickly as the throat issues. My dad suggested that I take some decongestants to make the fluid in my ear get absorbed. I haven’t tried that yet, but I think I’m going to start. I’m still getting dizzy a lot during the day (and especially during workouts where you go from sitting or laying down to standing a lot). As long as I’m sitting, the dizziness isn’t happening. So at least I’m able to drive and work without feeling like I’m going to fall over.

And speaking of work, that’s getting better too! I’m finally getting used to my schedule for the national box office job from home. There’s a lot of down time at that job (hence the low pay), so I’m trying to find the best use of my down time. I have done some survey coding between calls and online chats for the box office job, but there haven’t been a ton of surveys to work on lately (that should change soon).

I’m also looking into some other freelance type work that I can do from home between my work for the box office. I know that I can write and blog. I just need to find some gigs that pay for me to do that! If you know of any, please feel free to let me know in the comments.

I haven’t gone back to substitute teaching yet, but that’s mainly because all of my Mondays lately have been very busy. And since I can only work on Mondays, when that day is filled up, there’s no other option for me that week. But I’m checking for work each week and hopefully soon there will be a job for me to work.

And I emailed my old box office job. They claimed that they wanted me to come back in September when the shows were starting again. I’m a little concerned that they have decided that I’m not necessary since they haven’t had me work for a while now. But I did send them an email saying that I wanted to get back to work now that the shows are coming back as well. I haven’t heard back yet, so until I do I won’t know if they are going to keep their word about me coming back this fall.

I know I say this all the time with day jobs, but it’s feeling more and more normal now. I’m used to my schedule and I’ve created routines for myself each day that fit into the new schedule better.

If only I was making enough at one day job things would be perfect. But the struggle is worth it for me. And I know that I will find a way to fit in all the jobs that are necessary for me to support myself somehow.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailBeing Sick (or Feeling Off) Default ThumbnailGetting Back To Normal (or Friend Hangouts And Doctor Appointments) Default Thumbnail2 Jobs 1 Day (or What My New Normal Might Look Like) Default ThumbnailProductive One Way And Slacking In Another (or Working On Finding Time) Default ThumbnailFeeling Normal Again (or Happy To Be Back In Control) Default ThumbnailLearning How To Maximize My Injury (or Feeling More Normal)

Comments Off on Feeling Like Normal In More Ways Than One (or Getting Better)

Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff, Health, Tough Stuff, Work

Tagged , , , ,

Being The New Employee (or Starting Yet Another Day Job)

Posted on August 28, 2014 | 2 comments

I started my new day job this week. It’s box office/customer service work for a murder mystery theater group. They have locations all over the country, so we are considered a national box office.

Everyone started a week before I did (I’m not sure the exact reason, but it worked out well for me). So a lot of the kinks in the system were figured out before I started.

But since this is work from home, I don’t have anyone around to answer questions for me.

Thankfully, this is much easier than my other box office job (or the telesales job). There is a spreadsheet with all the information that we need to know. And if things get too specific or someone needs to know something about a particular location, we just email that location and they take it from there.

I have to answer questions over the phone and also on online chats, so that’s a little new for me.

My first day was Tuesday (this job is Tuesday-Saturday) and it was pretty scary. The phones are weird because they ring for all of us at the same time (there are 4 of us in different locations around the country). So sometimes I’d answer the phone but someone else got it a split second ahead of me. Then I’d hear a dial tone.

I was terrified that I was doing something wrong with the phones, so I kept emailing another employee asking her a million questions. Thankfully, she was patient with me and understood that it’s tough when you are working alone at a new job.

After my second day, I’m starting to get a hang of it, but it’s still a little scary. I’m worried that I’ll get asked some crazy question and have no idea what to do (it’s happened plenty at my other box office job). I’m just trying to remind myself to stay calm and not to be afraid to ask questions to other employees.

This isn’t my first work from home job, but it seems different from all the others. This is the first time that I have to wait for the work to come to me, instead of me initiating the work like I did with my headhunter assistant job. I’m learning that it’s ok for me to step away from my desk for a second to get a drink of water or something because I’m never more than a few steps away from my phone or computer (the benefit of living in a tiny house).

I’m so happy that I finally have a job with regular hours again. And I’m ok with feeling nervous. When I started my telesales job, it was my first telesales (or any type of sales) job ever. I was so scared and would hope that people wouldn’t answer their phones. But by my second year at that job, I ended up being the assistant manager.

I’m not expecting to get any sort of promotions with this new job (it really isn’t set up to be that way), but I keep reminding myself that in time I will be comfortable with this new job and it will feel easy to me. And having regular money coming in will be really nice too.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailAdventures In Customer Service (or Trying Not To Be The Bad Call) Default ThumbnailHaving My Patience Tested (or Taking Deep Breaths) Default ThumbnailBusy Busy Busy (or Triple Job Day) Default Thumbnail2 Jobs 1 Day (or What My New Normal Might Look Like) Default ThumbnailHappy Hour Party (or Getting To See Co-Workers Again) Default ThumbnailDouble Shift Days (or Hoping To Make Enough Money By Payday)

2 Comments

Posted in Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff, Work

Tagged , , , ,

Loving Air Conditioning (or A Bonus To Babysitting And Working)

Posted on May 5, 2014 | Comments Off on Loving Air Conditioning (or A Bonus To Babysitting And Working)

So, on Friday I complained about the heat. I know I probably sounded whiney (even in text form), but I was honestly miserable. On Friday night, I got my pjs soaked before going to bed so when my fan blew over them I cooled down (my bedroom was in the high 80s when I went to bed).

Fortunately, this weekend was much better.

First of all, on Saturday I went to spin class. Somehow, the steamy studio still felt cooler than my house. But not only that, I got in a good workout and it really made me feel better. I hadn’t been to spin for about a week, and I really did miss it. It’s feeling more and more like a place I want to be all the time (and yes, I have applied for a job there).

The only thing that frustrated me at spin was after class when I checked out the new shirts that were for sale. Each month, SoulCycle does a new collection of workout clothes. The larges tend to sell out super quickly so I normally can’t find a tank top in my size. I figured since the month had just started, I should be able to find one. But nope, all the larges were sold out in 2 days. I might wait for them to restock in the studio because I’d rather try it on first before buying it, so buying it off their website isn’t really the best option for me.

Then, on Saturday evening, my friend Erin asked me to babysit. I’m always happy to babysit her kids so I was excited to say yes. And when I’m going over there to babysit, I always ask Erin if I can do laundry at her house. It saves me money and I always bring my own detergent so I don’t take too much advantage of her. And this Saturday, besides getting to do free laundry, there was another bonus to babysitting! Erin’s house has central air conditioning!! It was so great being able to relax in a nice cool house.

Babysitting was relatively easy. Erin’s daughter and I get along super great. We watched a movie and she tried multiple hair styles on me. Erin’s daughter recently broke her leg and has a cast from foot to hip, but she’s doing awesome! And Erin’s son isn’t the biggest fan of mine (he knows that usually when I come over that means that his mom and dad are leaving), but he was pretty easy to watch as well. He just chilled and watched his own tv show and went to bed. Easy peasy.

While the weather did finally start to cool down on Sunday, I had another opportunity to enjoy air conditioning yesterday. I worked a 4 hour box office shift. It was a pretty standard box office shift so nothing too stressful. And this might be my last shift there for a while. After the season ends this week, there won’t really be any evening or weekend shifts for me to work. So I might not have too much work until the new season starts in the fall. But I’m not trying to stress out about that (yet).

Overall, even though I technically worked both days this weekend, just the air conditioning alone made it totally worth it!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailFeeling Refreshed (or Looking Good While Babysitting) Default ThumbnailBabysitting=New Vacuum (or I’ve Got $0.49 To Spare) Default ThumbnailComedy in Babysitting (or Surviving An Afternoon With A Crying 2 Year Old) Default ThumbnailFull Day At The New Job (or Seeing My Old Workplace Abandoned) Default ThumbnailProductive One Way And Slacking In Another (or Working On Finding Time) Default ThumbnailWorking The Graveyard (or Starting Work When I’m Normally In Bed)

Comments Off on Loving Air Conditioning (or A Bonus To Babysitting And Working)

Posted in Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff, Work

Tagged , , , , ,

Double Time (or 2 Days Of Split Shifts)

Posted on April 28, 2014 | Comments Off on Double Time (or 2 Days Of Split Shifts)

First of all, a quick update on my audition from last week. I heard back from my agent because the show wanted to check my availability for the filming date! This could be a very good sign. Normally they only check the availability of 2 or maybe 3 choices. But you never know when things aren’t done as normally, so I might not be in the top 3 yet. But it’s still a positive sign and again, I promise to update you all on any news.

Thursday and Friday last week were both double job days. I worked from 10-2 for my recruiting job and then headed over to the box office job and worked there from 4-8. I need more days like this if I don’t want to have to get day job #3. Although I did talk to my bosses at the recruiting job about potentially getting a higher hourly rate once I’ve been there for 90 days which could make it possible to only need 2 jobs.

But even though I need more days like those days, I have to admit that it was pretty tough. I’m used to working 8 hour days when I worked in the telesales office, but somehow doing 2 jobs in that same amount of time is more exhausting. It could have something to do with the craziness of working in the box office. It’s pretty calm for the first hour or so, but once people start showing up at the will call window (which is what I do there), it’s non-stop work. And people are constantly asking me for better seats or some other sort of favor that I really can’t do. And this particular show that’s going on right now doesn’t allow for late seating (at all!), so we also have to deal with angry people who show up 10 or 15 minutes late and aren’t allowed in the theater (everyone is warned about this when they buy their tickets).

I’m sure in a week or two the box office job won’t feel as crazy or stressful and I’ll get used to it. But once I’m used to it, I might not be working much more there for a while.

Right now, I’m working evenings and weekends during the shows since I work my recruiting job in the mornings and early afternoons. The season is over in about 2 weeks at the theater and there won’t be any more shows until the fall. They will still need people at the box office, but it will only be until 6pm.

I have some ideas on how I can try to work both jobs even without evenings or weekends, but it won’t be easy. I’ll probably have to start earlier than I’d like to at the recruiting job and then rush over to the box office to work 3 hours instead of 4.

I also heard back from my old boss and he’s running a short fundraising campaign this summer and wants to talk to me about joining that. I’m hopefully going to meet up with him next week so I’ll have a better idea of what those hours would be like.

Either way, these double days need to become a more regular occurrence. I just don’t know how to make that happen quite yet.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailDouble Shift Days (or Hoping To Make Enough Money By Payday) Default ThumbnailEarly Days (or 2 Weeks Of Long Shifts) Default ThumbnailFull Day At The New Job (or Seeing My Old Workplace Abandoned) Default Thumbnail2 Jobs 1 Day (or What My New Normal Might Look Like) Default ThumbnailBusy Time (or Scheduling Again) Default ThumbnailThinking I’m Good Enough (or Not Freaking Out Over An Email)

Comments Off on Double Time (or 2 Days Of Split Shifts)

Posted in Work

Tagged , , ,

Busy Time (or Scheduling Again)

Posted on April 18, 2014 | Comments Off on Busy Time (or Scheduling Again)

I’m really starting to get a hang of having 2 part time jobs. It’s not easy, but it’s starting to make more sense in my life.

The recruiting job is going well. I’m still pretty much working from home all the time, and I’m starting to have more success at it. My boss is pretty happy with my progress, but I’m hoping I get much better at it pretty quickly. The money that I earn from successful calls would be really nice.

The box office job is going pretty well also. I’m still waiting on getting my own login information for the computer systems, but I’m able to borrow another person’s login for now so at least I’m able to do all the work I need to do. It’s still a bit weird to be doing some of the same work I’m used to doing but it’s still pretty different. I’m not pushing ticket sales as hard as I used to and there’s no pitch to join as a member. I’m also not feeling the same motivation to try to get people to buy more (or fancier) ticket because none of the sales in the box office are commissionable. But I’m sure that the box office will feel like normal very very soon.

And finally, my money situation is getting better. After taking my NYC trip, my savings account was pretty much wiped out. My unemployment was ending (because I was still using an old claim and it was almost done) and I didn’t know how much I’d be making at either job. At the beginning of this week, I didn’t know how I was going to manage to pay my rent at the end of the month.

But I got paid from my recruiting job (I missed the cutoff for the mid-month payroll at the box office job so I won’t get my first check there until the end of the month), I got my new unemployment started, and my tax refund came in. This all happened in 2 days. And I finally had my rent money in place (and was able to pay it early which I like to do).

I always say that somehow things fit into place for me. And I’m starting to have more hope that that is really how it will work out. I’m not sure how things will be next month, but maybe I’ll get more successful calls from my recruiting job or more hours in the box office. It’s all a little up in the air but it looking like a much more realistic lifestyle now.

Sorry if this is a somewhat boring post, but that’s where I am in life this week. But to add some excitement, here’s a set of photos my dad just sent to me. The top picture is Tucker when we adopted him and the bottom photo is Tucker yesterday (about 4 months later). He’s getting so big!!

10177357_10152340830742748_1293085212621813928_n

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailDouble Shift Days (or Hoping To Make Enough Money By Payday) Default ThumbnailBusy Busy Busy (or Triple Job Day) Default ThumbnailTemp Job Time (or Feeling Like It’s An Old Job Again) Default ThumbnailEarly Days (or 2 Weeks Of Long Shifts) Default ThumbnailStaying Super Busy (or Another Job) Default ThumbnailScheduling Conflicts (or Maybe I Should Stop Planning)

Comments Off on Busy Time (or Scheduling Again)

Posted in Fun Stuff, Saving, Work

Tagged , , , , , ,

Full Day At The New Job (or Seeing My Old Workplace Abandoned)

Posted on April 15, 2014 | 1 comment

On Saturday, I worked a full show shift in the box office. The day before, I only worked a few hours. Saturday was an 8 hour shift (technically 7.5 since I had to take a 30 minute lunch).

This was my first full work day away from home since I was laid off. While it was weird trying to get everything together before I left for the day, since I was going to a place I’ve worked before it wasn’t too bad. I even remembered to pack a lunch (something that I had trouble with when I worked in telesales).

I also got a better idea of what the workday would be like for me in the box office. I’m happy to see that there is downtime because when you work the will call box before a show, it’s a little crazy. Especially when you can’t find the tickets for people.

But again, the people in the box office are being super patient with me and are more than willing to help me with all the weird stuff I’m trying to get used to. I really feel like people there are happy to see that I’m back, and that is really helping with coming back to a place where I was laid off.

During one of those downtime moments, the box office manager and I were chatting about something random and she mentioned how they use magnetic to stick notices to the box office door. I said that I was pretty sure that I left some magnets at my desk in the trailer that I worked telesales in. So the box office manager handed me her keys and sent me over there to see if I could find any.

It was very very weird to go back into the trailer. I had been there one time after being laid off when my boss was still there (I think it was only a week after being laid off). The last time, everything was still there but there were boxes everywhere. This time, it looked like a ghost town inside.

IMG_2859

I actually texted that picture to my ex-boss because it seemed so sad inside. They are tearing down the trailer soon so this was probably the last time I was going to go inside it.

But I did find my magnets still stuck to my whiteboard above where my desk used to be!

I showed everyone in the box office that picture and they all agreed that it looked very sad inside the trailer. But it was a nice closure on the telesales job. I’m actually enjoying working in the box office and being able to interact more with customers and my co-workers. I’m still hoping to get more hours there so I won’t have to worry about finding yet another day job (and when would I have time to fit that in?!?), but that’s being worked on.

Overall, I’d say my first full day shift in the box office was a success! And yes, I dressed properly for the job this time.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailDouble Shift Days (or Hoping To Make Enough Money By Payday) Default ThumbnailHappy Hour Party (or Getting To See Co-Workers Again) Default Thumbnail2 Jobs 1 Day (or What My New Normal Might Look Like) Default ThumbnailBeing The New Employee (or Starting Yet Another Day Job) Default ThumbnailOne Last Work Happy Hour (or I Guess I Really Am Unemployed Now) Default ThumbnailDouble Time (or 2 Days Of Split Shifts)

1 Comment

Posted in Work

Tagged , , , , ,